Africa | - Part 39

Africa to add more to workforce in 2035 than world combined

Growth in SSA should remain robust but decelerate in the wake of the decline in oil and commodity prices. This is according to the IMF’s latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa which projects that the region’s economy is set to register another year of solid performance, by expanding at 4.5% in 2015. While this rate will be at the lower end of the range experienced over the last few years, SSA will remain among…

Nigeria Capital Market: Week Ended 24th April, 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Nigerian Stock Market Weekly Summary and Outlook The market continued to trade sideways this week as investors treaded more cautiously. The NSE ASI shed 1.5% W-o-W settling at 34,485.72 at the close of trade on Friday. Nevertheless, MtD return closed positive at 8.6% although YtD was negative at 0.5%. Following the course of the benchmark index, aggregate market capitalization declined N779.1bn W-o-W and closed at N11.7tn. Market activity was mixed with the aggregate volume of…

Nigeria: 2015 Budget Snapshot

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The Nigerian Federal House of Representative on Thursday passed the sum of N4.5tn budget for the 2015 fiscal year with an increase of N135.4bn over initial proposal submitted in November 2014. In addition, the House has adopted an oil benchmark of US$53.0, daily oil production of 2.3mbpd, exchange rate of N190.00/US$1.00 and fiscal deficit/GDP ratio of 1.1%. Surprisingly, no provision for fuel subsidy was made in the approved 2015 Appropriation Act. A further review of…

African Inflation Snapshot: March 2015

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Angola’s inflation rises to 7.87 percent: Angola’s consumer inflation edged up to 7.87 percent year-on-year in March from 7.73 percent in February, according to data from the statistics office. On a month-on-month basis, prices rose 0.63 percent after a 0.76 percent increase previously. Botswana’s CPI remains unchanged at 2.8 percent: Botswana’s consumer inflation was steady at 2.8 percent year-on-year in March from the previous month, according to data from the statistics office. Whereas inflation increased…

Despite the End of the Commodity Boom, African Countries Can Sustain Their Growth

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The World Bank Group forecasts that economic growth for African countries will slow in 2015 to 4.0 percent from 4.5 percent in 2014, a downturn which largely reflects the sharp fall in global prices for oil and other key commodities. At a seminar with African finance ministers, central bankers and their delegations during the World Bank Group Spring Meetings, the Bank’s Africa Chief Economist Francisco Ferreira explained that his 2015 forecast was below the 4.4…

Infrastructure spending in developing countries needs to double

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Spending on infrastructure in developing countries needs to double, says Trafigura, one of the world’s biggest independent commodity trading and logistics houses. In a in a white paper discussion launched at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) on the 17th of April, the group emphasized that mitigation of financial risk is key to managing infrastructure projects. The Foundations for Growth: Infrastructure Investment in Emerging Markets paper written by London-based independent economists Llewellyn Consulting said…

Nigerian current-account deficit is 0.1% GDP in Q4 2014

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The CBN’s External Sector Development Report for Q4 2014 shows a modest current-account deficit equivalent to 0.1% of GDP. This was to be expected, given that the international oil price fell by about US$25/b over the quarter in question. The report also revised earlier data, notably for Q2 for which a surplus representing 1.1% of GDP was transformed into a 0.4% deficit. The deterioration predates the latest slide in the oil price and can be traced to…

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